Enduro Expert v Dawg Primo v Heckler

Ok, so bit of background, I currently ride a Giant XTC SX as my XC bike, however am looking to get a FS as i am going to break my XTC if I continue to thash it on downhills and jumps which is what I have been doing recently. I dont ride downhills all the time, but alot of my riding is taking in what i guess is called agresive singletrack and i do enjoy riding downhill courses as part of our routes. I weigh about 180 kg and am 6ft 4 or 193cm tall (that weight is without camelback). The bike has to also be able to handle a once a year trip to the Alps.

Now i have the opportunity to get one of these 3, The bike has to be lightish to pedal uphill, but be able to ride drops offs and hit jumps. Nothing crazy high, but capable of handling the hits and drops.

Pro's: Enduro Expert - Comes with some good kit on it, Juicy 7's, DHX 5.0, Talas 36 forks. I have ridden one previously and felt quite at home on it, Also quite good deals on these at the moment in the UK. I like the setup on it. Good warrenty as well

Cons: Is it to heavy to be considered a genuine all mountain bike? Double ring only in the UK. FSR link means not much room to drop seat post

Pro's: Dawg Primo - Alot lighter than the enduro, more of a AM bike imo, never ridden one yet but will do before I buy. Kona's dont break, Great deals on them at the moment. Looks like it can take a hammering.

Cons: can the RP3 shock that alot of abuse? Not to sure of that many at the moment.

Pro's: Heckler - Seems to hit the hardcore XC/Singletrack/Downhill that I am looking for, complete custome build means I can pretty much get what I want on it. Easy maintenance with the single pivot.

Cons: No deals on it whatsoever, would have to scrimp abit as the Heckler is pushing my budget quite hard, I might have abit more cash than I anticipate but not sure.

For the Heckler i would want the X9 AM kit, I dont know whether i want a coil shock or not, I am not that heavy and think a air shock should be able to take the kinda hits that I want. + not sure what front forks to go with for the Heckler either the Pikes or Floats.

Also just to say I have considered a Coiler and consider these to heavy really.

I dont' know about the others however I got myself and enduro expert this year and I am very happy with it. I don't find it too heavy but i'm not the fastest guy uphill to begin with nor am i going to be racing or anything. Very nice setup of parts and pieces - I will tell you however that it has taken quite a lot of experimenting to get dialed in for my preference. But thats all the fun of having so many dials and adjustments to play with.
If you look in the specialized forum you will find some setup tips that people have posted.
Brakes are awesome as is the shifting. Forks are great as well. I'd highly recommend it.

They all sound great, the Heckler is my pick. I am 6'3" and 245, I rode it with the 5th element for three years, it was great. I now have a three-way air on it, I have yet to find this bikes limit. I live in Fruita Colorado and ride here and Moab on a regular basis. This bike can handle more than I have the courage for. good luck on your decision

Eliminated the Enduro because of the interrupted seattube. Yeah, it's a great bike. Got buddies that ride them and they feel good. I've had a couple bikes with interrupted seattubes in the past and didn't like the fact that I couldn't slam the seat.

I had to elminate the Hecker because of the size. The small is too small and the medium is too big. Well the seatpost on medium is too tall. 18 inches. I can't get saddle low enough. This price is a steal but it's too small.

Got a Dawg Primo, very happy with it. Fairly light, if you consider it has a rugged freeride frame (it's the 2004 Coiler frame design). Very nice head angle / seat angle combination to let you climb quite easily (not like an XC bike, but you know that) and descend like a comet. Enduro is more a "point-and-shoot" machine, IMHO not well suited for a 360° use (Specialized discovered that, since has dropped the frame for standard Enduro leaving it just for SXs). Then the Heckler: I love this bike, and that was the competitor of the Dawg when I w3as choosing my bike. If you plain to do a very aggressive riding (DHX5, a Fox 36 or Z1) for me it's a great bike; if you want to build it with a "short" fork, like a fox 32mm, and an air shock, probably the Dawg angles will give you more fun.

Enduro

Love my 06 Enduro Expert. Fork alone is worth $1k (US). Dual ring is the way to go w/bashguard. Third ring is a WASTE of time. Plus the second ring is 34. So much fun.

But everyone is right, you can't go wrong with either of them. Enduro is VERY burly. Can do FR/AM with this bike. I do all the drops and other stuff I did with my Bullit. HL on Enduro is nice to - eliminates brake jack I hated on Bullit.

"If an illegal alien is an undocumented immigrant, than a drug dealer is an unlicensed pharmicist."

Those Dawgs are tough

Those Dawgs are tough, and if you ditch the rp3 and buy a swinger 4 way coil from CRC you can sell the RP3 and pocket some change.i think you would have a great Am bike, i found the coil feelt a lot nicer on the Dawg ...only down side i think is the high standover....painfull at times.

Wow, might I suggest some easy walking, 1/2 mile to start, leading up to 1 mile (when you feel ready, don't push it) everyday until you are under 300 lbs before you ride your new bike?

Harsh. But... you are a big guy. I would have thought coilair might stand up to a bit more punishment than the Dawg. I have a lower specced Dawg Deluxe and weigh 76ish kg and it takes everything I throw at it from aggressive XC to light Freeride (I guess thats called all mountain). You would be exerting a fair bit of stress on your bike if you do any medium jumps and drops so you'd want a pretty strong kit.

Harsh. But... you are a big guy. I would have thought coilair might stand up to a bit more punishment than the Dawg. I have a lower specced Dawg Deluxe and weigh 76ish kg and it takes everything I throw at it from aggressive XC to light Freeride (I guess thats called all mountain). You would be exerting a fair bit of stress on your bike if you do any medium jumps and drops so you'd want a pretty strong kit.

just my 0.02

Oh, I was just assuming the weight was a typo. I can't imagine a 400 lb guy "thrashing it" on dh and jumps... But, if you are 400 lbs and ride hard, all the best, I didn't mean to be a d!ck.

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Strava: turn off your dork logger when you're not on sanctioned trails.

I didn't like the Dawg, and I had several rides on it.. The suspension felt really wierd-great pedaling platform, but not plush at all. The one I originally rode was the Dawg Deluxe (it was a POS with that crappy fork) and even after I swapped out it for a TALAS, it just wasn't all that great. It felt much more like an all-day XC machine/endurance racer bike than a plush trailbike. It has slack angles and a long wheelbase, which didn't match the stiff action of the rear shock. To me, it falls into the "sturdy XC rig" category. My Ventana X-5 has similiar linkage but is worlds-apart in terms of performance: much plusher, good pedaling platform, way stiffer, just as light, doesn't creak, much more balanced and secure handling, much better on technical climbs and descents. If I was riding more aggressively, and I wanted a Kona, I would get a CoilAir. Two of my friends have the Coiler frame built with trailbike parts and Z1's (130mm) that weigh in the neighborhood of 33lbs. The Specialized FSR 120 I had at the time was a plusher ride as well (compared to the Dawg, but no match for the X-5).